Addicted to looking for what's wrong with you

Are you overly anxious about your health?

Do you sometimes spend hours at the computer looking for what is wrong with you? And do these search results make you anxious, panicky and scared? Then there is a good chance that you have cyberchondria.

Cyberchondria comes from the words cyber and hypochondria. People who have this are excessively anxious about their health, because of the information they find on the internet. No less than 90 percent of Dutch people regularly use search engines such as Google to find health information. Some of these impose a diagnosis on themselves, which does not apply.

Where is it from?

In 2003, the term cyberchondria first appeared in The Independent. This British newspaper described ‘the excessive use of internet health sites to fuel health anxiety’. This phenomenon was first investigated in 2008 by Microsoft employees Ryen White and Eric Horvitz. Their research shows that almost half of the respondents become overly concerned about their own health because of the use of the internet. Worries that are unnecessary in most cases.

In 2018, the Dutch Fam te Poel of the VU University Amsterdam research to cyberchondria. She researched more than 5000 Dutch people and their online habits when it comes to health information. The communication scientist came up with the same findings as White and Horvitz: people who more often look for information online about their own health, feel more anxious because of the information they find. It also appears that these people seem to pay more attention to information that, in many cases incorrectly, confirms that something is going on.

Pros and cons

Searching for information on the internet can have advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that there is a lot of information on the internet and it has a great anonymity. The disadvantage is that it is often not clear whether you can trust the information. In addition, the language used on the Internet is not adapted to the knowledge of the reader and diagnoses are made without taking into account incidence, prevalence or relevant risk factors.

There are also pros and cons to self-diagnosis. An advantage, for example, is that the patient can often explain in detail what he is experiencing and that the doctor can go into depth with the questions fairly quickly. A disadvantage is that a patient may exaggerate a set of symptoms to support his self-diagnosis. It can minimize or suppress opposing symptoms, which is detrimental to a correct diagnosis.

The patient can also become excessively concerned about his health, which can lead to (serious) stress complaints. For example, consider high blood pressure and insomnia. The fear of being seriously ill can cause great suffering to people who believe that they are terminally ill or have a serious illness. It is often difficult for them to get rid of that idea.

What can you do?

As serious as cyberchondria sounds, it doesn’t have to define your life. You can get the right help with these tips:

Be open to the doctor’s expertise.
Do not try to imitate, minimize or suppress symptoms (consciously or unconsciously).
Keep a journal of symptoms you experience.
If in doubt about the doctor’s diagnosis, get a second opinion.
Seek help from a psychologist to talk about your fears.
Te Poel: “You have to be aware of the fact that a lot of online information is not relevant to your personal situation and therefore search carefully and on reliable websites.”